Monday, February 14, 2011

I wanted to share this beautiful Floral Ice Bowl that I make for special occasions. It is so stunning and always impresses as a center piece for parties. Not only is it easy to make but it is gorgeous!

I love to add lots of greenery along with whole flowers and petals. Almost any flower can be used and I have found that lighter weight flowers work best. I actually prefer petals to whole buds as they tend freeze under the water line better. Every time I make one I try to use the brightest colors that I can find, and love to be seasonal. Holly and mistletoe work great in Winter too ! Herbs from your garden will also be breath taking embedded into the ice and is perfect for a Summer Garden Party!

This bowl can be made as small or large as your equipment will allow and can hold punch, fruit, shrimp cocktail...the list is endless! Just make sure that you keep an eye on the melting so as not to ruin your food items.

Let's get started!

Be sure to use a stainless steel bowl to hold the water as ceramic tends to crack under the freezing pressure. A small ceramic bowl for the inside seems to work out alright for me and has not cracked yet..

Choose your flowers/greenery and place inside SS bowl

Place small bowl on top of flowers inside SS bowl and pour water into SS bowl only without covering the small bowl

you want to be sure to center your smaller bowl exactly in the middle to create a 'bowl' on the inside. I have found that if you only put the water in to just barely lift and float the smaller bowl, it tends to stay in place better. Any more water than that and your smaller bowl will float while freezing which will leave you with a crooked center. It also is a good idea to keep checking for floating before it freezes completely. Once you start to get a good freeze but can still see some water, remove SS bowl from freezer and add a tiny bit more COLD water to cover any petals that have risen out of the water and place back in freezer till frozen. If you do this after it freezes too much it will crack your ice, and you will have to start over.

Do not be discouraged when first attempting this, I have made many of them and will admit it usually takes at least 2 tries each time, but it is worth it for the end result !